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Living Outside Reality

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Living Outside Reality CHRIS SMITH FELLOW 2006 ___________________________________________________ Living Outside Reality My time in Madagascar: 2006 _____________________________________________________________________ I have taught other people to kayak almost since the day, barely in my teens, I acquired the skills to look after myself on the water. I currently coach water sports professionally but I have never wavered from the belief that to effectively teach something one must have a passion for that thing. This fellowship has been an expression of my passion for kayaking, and so with renewed zest I happily and gratefully present my report, which started off so long ago with the simple aim, on the back of a beer mat, to explore the rivers of Madagascar. With thanks, Chris Smith Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 1 Madagascar; a land once covered in rainforest and biodiversity, flora and fauna flung on its own evolutionary track as our dynamic earth, once whole, split and separated and created what we now see as continents, and in the case of Madagascar, islands. Now known as the Red Island, this title not only describes the vast and barren landscape one sees as ones plane flies over the central highlands to land in Antananarivo, Madagascar‟s polluted capital, but also tells a tale of destruction and deforestation. The eastern escarpment drops steeply towards the Indian Ocean and still retains a modicum of its former forests, here the rivers run crystal clear and National Parks struggle to save the remaining trees and the wildlife within. On the west, stunning landscapes in the form of huge hills devoid of life and yet startlingly beautiful, battered by yearly rains which wash the surface earth into huge rivers to be swept into the surrounding seas; Red Rivers on a Red Island. Madagascar is a shrinking island, quite literally being flushed away. As a foreigner the solutions are all so simple, but there is a harsh reality behind the environmentalism; families are starving, poverty is rife, political struggles have crippled the once respectable colonial economy, warring factions destroyed the infrastructure. And so they burn the grasslands and destroy the forests, always living in the present no thought for the future, because after all, the Zebu herds must eat and be eaten. Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 2 Contents Thanks to… page 4 Prologue page 5 56 Days in Madagascar page 6 The Hard Bit page 7 The Important Bit page 9 The Paddling Bit page 15 The River Report page 22 Media and Dissemination page 31 Appendices page 33 Google Earth page 34 The Flow and the Fall page 35 Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 3 Thanks My thanks go firstly to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, without whose help none of the following would have been remotely possible. Secondly the added support of the Mike Jones Award 2006, I thank Mr and Mrs Baillie for the honour of this award. Pyranha is a British Kayak manufacturer based in Runcorn who lent their years of knowledge and expertise in the form of advice and a seriously river-worthy kayak, the Burn. Gilles Gautier went above and beyond in his support and encouragement while I was in the country, his help proved invaluable. Ali Mckerrow, Charlie Mott, Dan Peel, Frazer Pearce and Matt Simpson formed, with me, the first British paddling team to adventure Madagascar. Without this team my exploration would have been severely reduced. I thank them and their club (www.thepoly.co.uk). I must also thank my partner and friend Joanne Mackin who provides a constant backboard for me to bounce wild ideas off, without her rock-like solidity I know I would often crumble. The Red Island Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 4 Prologue Ever since I did a primary school project on the country around 15years ago Madagascar has been a dream destination of mine. When I discovered there was potential white water exploration in Madagascar it seemed a natural progression to adapt my original dream to encompass my favourite sport. So this was my simple aim at ever stage of my application to the WCMT, to explore the rivers of Madagascar. From the beginning I felt as though my plans were slightly different to the norm, I remember phoning up the ever-helpful Judith Barber and asking, slightly concerned, what I was to do with 3 itinerary sheets when I could barely fill half aside. I knew my arrival and departure dates, and later when I had confirmed a paddling team, I also knew their arrival and departure dates. The very essence of my wish to go to Madagascar was based on the fact that only one serious white water kayak team had ever been there before and it was a huge island with lots of rivers, this did not lend itself to an itinerary. I was therefore pleased when Judith informed me that they understood this and whatever information I possessed would be adequate. Everything was new, unexpected, and educational. Everything I did was motivated towards my generalised aim but at times I blundered along hap hazardously trusting to serendipity and optimism, while at other times I had specific focus and felt like a well-aimed arrow. I hope that the following report is written in a style that reflects the nature of my fellowship. I often stray into the realms of anecdotal and perhaps colloquial language in an attempt to bring something of my roller coaster type adventure and its amazing rhythm into the text. I hope you, as readers, can understand that to express myself any other way would be an insult and grave contradiction to the life I lived in the beautiful and crazy world that is Madagascar. Enjoy. Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 5 56 Days in Madagascar It wasn‟t enough. The following section is split into 3 parts; The Hard Bit describes getting to Madagascar, The Important Bit deals with the research I carried out whilst in Madagascar, and finally The Paddling Bit explains some of my kayaking adventures. Various diary, email and article extracts appear throughout with a scattering of photographs. Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 6 The Hard Bit I had decided early on that I would never make a mistake; lessons would be learnt, alternative solutions would be discovered, I would happily be corrected in the name of education and experience. A wrong turn would always be one step closer to the right turn; this was after all an exploratory adventure. A positive psychology that was tested to the limits before I had even left the country. 20th July I remember the beads of sweat slowly running the length of my nose as I hoisted my kayak onto the scales in Heathrow airport for a second time; struggling to hold the kayak in place without making it look as if I was taking a good third of its weight in an attempt to convince the attendant that it was lighter than it looked. I was pulling all the strings and still battling. This was a bad start, what sort of a kayak explorer will I be without a kayak? Trust me when I tell you that it was a close and costly thing, I didn‟t actually have to bribe anyone but I was convinced that the covert „sur-charges‟ from Air France bordered on criminal. This said, after my lengthy and heated debate I was simply relieved to know that my kayak would indeed be allowed to travel with me. Lesson 1: Air France is not a kayak-friendly airline. 21st July It is a terrifying experience to land at night in an unknown, foreign speaking, third world country on your own. I lie, I was not alone. I had a 2½m lump of plastic to drag around with me, it‟s worse than a child; firstly its size is considerably greater and secondly it has no concept of independent action. And so with two rucksacks, two paddles and my kayak in tow I stagger through visa-control, customs and a plethora of taxi- touts and presumably (if the travel guide is to be believed) pick pockets. I brandish the phrase „no entiendo‟ as my shield before quickly realising Spanish wont help and switch to my crash course in French; „j‟n comprend pa‟. Imagine my relief, if you can, when in perfect English a tall and smiling, trusty looking Frenchman states that I must be Chris and that his car is waiting. Meet Gilles Gautier. He is the living legend of outdoor pursuits in Madagascar. He has been involved in rafting, climbing, windsurfing, base jumping, mountain biking, canyoning, trekking and much more. In his younger days he was a climbing pioneer but in his current role I like to think of him as a facilitator; he now helps others to push the boundaries of exploration and adventure-sport and I was lucky enough to be invited into his home to live and use as a base for the duration of my stay. Lesson 2: The French should not be judged by their corporations. My first task was to find my feet in this remote and hectic country and its culture. Madagascar‟s busy capital, Antananarivo (locally Tana), proved to be my first Madagascan exploration: 22nd July I have a feeling of complete loss, almost pre-emptive failure. Here I am with a vague plan to explore the rivers of Madagascar. Miles from home with a poor grasp of the French language. I am at a loss – I can‟t even point to Tana. Madagascar 2006 Chris Smith 7 23rd July Tana assaults the senses; you can see the smog, smell the fumes, feel the grime on your skin and dust in your eyes, honking horns and old engines deafen.
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